Fighting Is Magic

My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic was an upcoming fan-made fighting game inspired by the animated television series My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.[1][2] It was under development by a team of nine volunteers who call themselves Mane6.[3][4] Being of a fan-made nature, this game was neither licensed nor endorsed by Hasbro.

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The final version of the game was suppose to feature seventeen playable characters in all with the six major characters from the show playable from launch.[3] Eleven more characters followed in semi-regular updates.[5] The game was downloadable and free to play. Both local and online multiplayer modes were included as well as a story mode.[6][5] Character specific moves was also present in-game.[6]My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic featured various stages that represented places from Equestria. The Everfree Forest and Canterlot were mentioned.[7]

On Feburary 8, 2013, Mane 6 received a cease and desist notice. They have suspended development and two members of the team have resigned. James Workman (Elosande), effective February 6, 2013, and Prominence, effective January 30, 2012.[9] It is still unknown what progression of action they will follow, but they have stated that they wish to avoid taking the case to court. Strong reaction was shown by the steadily growing fanbase, however Hasbro as of Feburary 15, 2013 has not made any public statements about Mane 6, nor Mane 6 made any statements about Hasbro.

A test build was leaked by a member of the Quality Assurance team on August 2, 2012. As a result, Mane6 announced it was cancelling all plans of external testing and suspending video updates about the game's features for the foreseeable future.[10] However, they released a clarification and FAQ the next day, saying that they overreacted some, and that while they were still replacing their entire QA team (to ensure no further leaks), they don't hate the fans for downloading and playing the leak. Also, they stated that the Canterlot Gardens con "is still go".[11]

Fighting is Magic was a traditional one-on-one fighter that takes place in a 2-Dimensional plane. The gameplay borrowed the dial-a-combo system made popular by renowned fighters such as Capcom's Versus crossover series. Standard fighting game fare was incorporated in the game, from character lifebars to a 'super' gauge to a round timer to special and super attacks. Characters engage in a 'best-of' battle, where one must fully deplete the other's lifebar or have more health remaining once the timer reaches zero for a set number of rounds. The character who wins the most number of rounds is declared the winner of the match.

The button scheme of Fighting is Magic is a four-button layout: Light, Medium, Heavy and Magic. According to Mane6, the latter button is an original mechanic that differs with each character, much like the Drive system from BlazBlue. This function was yet to be showcased, however.

Fighting is Magic was slated to have a roster of 17 playable characters. Because development of the game started prior to Friendship is Magic's second season, the characters to be included in the game, along with other in-show aspects, was taken primarily from the first season.